supplies | card making ideas

snowmen envelope | fingerprint reindeer

When Christmas rolls around, people often lean towards homemade crafts. They can transform your house from some place where commercial decorations prevail, by providing a warm and cozy traditional feeling. Learn card making in the comfort of your home by following the instructions from this site.

Handmade greetings cards are getting more and more popular. You've likely thought at one point, "Hey! I could make these myself, and save money". Well now you can! Imagine people receiving YOUR handmade greetings cards with YOUR name on the back!

You can make your own greeting cards at home. And you can also handprint "Handcrafted by (YOUR NAME)" on the back of every of your handmade greeting cards. Cool!

Making greetings cards is fun and easy to do - even for beginners. Creating beautiful homemade cards is such a rewarding way of spending time with family and friends. The joy of gathering card making ideas, paper, embellishments, and other card making supplies to make the cards and the joy that the handmade greeting cards give to the recipients are just something that cannot be purchased.

Receiving a handmade greetings card is so special, isn't it?

Supplies

Look around and I'm sure you can find something that you can use for to make your own cards. I have listed some of these card making supplies here. Actually, most of the card making supplies mentioned here are things most people have at hand around the house. So do not run out and buy them:

Paper
Extra thin and delicate Rice Paper from China, beautiful Mulberry Paper from India, Washi from Japan.

Envelopes
Nowadays, envelopes come in many different sizes, beside the standard sizes. I like to make cards that can fit into a standard size envelope but there are occasions when I felt more creative.

Cutting Mat/Craft Knife/Scissors/Trimmer
In card making, good cutting tools are very important. Here are some of the basic cardmaking cutting tools you will need to give your cards that professional neat look.

Adhesives And Tapes
Adhesives and tapes are one of the basic card making supplies. You need adhesives, tapes or paper glue for most cardmaking projects. Whether you do collage, rubber stamping, quilling, punchart, or just a simple photo greeting card.

Ink And Inkpads
Ink and inkpads are mainly used for rubber stamping and scrapbooking.

Decorative Punches
I love decorative punches. In fact, I have more than 100 of these beautiful decorative punches. Some have such intricate design that I just love to use them for my handmade cards. Each paper punch can last you for a life time. When you begin making greeting cards.

Card Making Embellishments
Card making embellishments are stuff that you can use to add a spackle or 3D effect to your handmade greeting cards. Beads, color stones, stickers, eyelets, glitters, tassels - these are some of the many embellishments that you can glue or sew to your cards.

Rubber Stamping Supplies
When you are into rubber stamping, you will have preference for certain companies rubber stamps. For example, I love Hero Arts Rubber Stamps, Posh Impressions Rubber Stamps, rubber stamps by Penny Black Inc., Magenta Rubber Stamps and also rubber stamps from quite a few other angel companies. But beside rubber stamps, you will also need other rubber stamping supplies which are now available in most craft stores.

Places To Get Card Making Ideas

1. Watching television program: Since I started making cards, I have been more aware of design and color and I found that I can find them freely watching products promotions, program advertisements on the television.

2. Browsing through fashion magazines. Look at the layout and combination of colors.

3. Textiles: I receive lots of card making ideas and inspiration just from studying the clothes that people are wearing. Look at the design on the fabric. Also observe the colors used.

4. Books' covers.

5. Store bought cards. Try not to copy. Just get some ideas and know the latest trends in greeting cards.

Snowmen Envelope:

Give mailing envelopes a little character (a few silly snowmen, for example) and call it a wrap for a gift book, puzzle, video or box of stationery.

MATERIALS:

Large mailing envelope (11 by 17 inches works well)
Construction paper
Sponge
Blue tempera paint
Colored markers
Felt scrap

Time needed: Under 1 Hour
1. Cut a basic snowman shape from construction paper, and use a few pieces of rolled masking tape to temporarily stick it to the face of the envelope.

2. Dip a soft sponge into blue tempera paint, and then dab color onto the envelope all around the snowman. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly.

3. Carefully remove the construction-paper cutout, and then use colored markers to draw a face, arms, a hat and buttons. For an authentic touch, glue on a miniature felt scarf.

Fingerprint Reindeer:

Simple and whimsical, this card is easy for kids of all ages to help create.

MATERIALS:

Variety of color ink pads
Plain paper
Scanner, printer, and home computer with publishing software, or copy service

Time needed: Under 1 Hour
1. Have each family member choose a color and use ink pads to make several thumbprints.

2. Have your kids add antlers, legs, and so forth to make the fingerprints into reindeer.

3. Scan their art onto a home computer and use a publishing program like Microsoft Greetings or Arcsoft Greeting Card Creator to arrange the reindeer and print the cards. (Most copy services will also scan and save to disk images.)

Tips:
You can use thumbprints to create Santas, trees, candles, people--you name it.

Making Homemade Cards

Making your own cards at home can be fun for the whole family. Christmas greetings are so much more special when they are crafted by hand.